(The Lion) — Minnesota’s Pequot Lakes school district has banned pastors from regularly attending meetings of the student group Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA).
The move comes after the Madison, Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed a complaint claiming that a local pastor had proselytized during FCA meetings at the middle school.
In a letter to Pequot Lakes Superintendent Kurt Stumpf, FFRF representative Kyle Steinberg claimed a “concerned district parent” had informed his organization “that an outside youth minister is leading the Pequot Lakes Middle School chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.”
According to the complaint, the pastor preached at each FCA meeting and supposedly controlled student participation “by calling upon them to speak only when they raise their hands.”
Steinberg cited a flurry of court cases to argue it is a settled legal tenet that a public school “may not give outside religious representatives special access to students for the purpose of promoting religion and proselytizing students, including leading students in religious activities during school-sponsored meetings.”
He also claimed school clubs like the FCA must be “student-led and student-organized. Outside adults cannot regularly attend FCA activities and any school staff in attendance may only participate in a supervisory capacity.”
Steinberg concluded his letter with a request that Superintendent Stumpf and the district “investigate and ensure” the pastor “is no longer allowed access to students in order to proselytize them and lead them in religious exercise,” and that no outside adults are permitted “to regularly lead, attend, or participate in student religious clubs, including FCA.”
In a press release announcing its victory, the FFRF noted that the superintendent responded with his assurance that the district had obeyed the atheist organization to the letter.
Conservative commentator Todd Starnes defended the pastor’s right to participate:
“There’s nothing unconstitutional about a Christian club inviting a Christian minister to speak to Christian students,” he said, adding tongue-in-cheek, “If the atheists want equal access – they can start their own club. But let’s get serious – nobody wants to fellowship with a bunch of godless, heathen atheists.”
